There is no ambiguity that Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan are extraordinary at what they do. They are on top of their game and know that excellence is more than just a goal – it is a state of being. But, they and others in similar positions would also be quick to remind you that excellence is not inherited but earned through a combination of processes and ecosystems that enable people to do their best work. Smart business and sales leaders know that growth will not come via pure luck, and excellence has to start behind the scenes through a keen focus on Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While there are numerous Sales KPIs that can help measure performance, the following five indicator metrics have significantly helped drive and improve most of my sales engine initiatives.

1. Revenue per Resource: The amount of revenue each sales employee is responsible for is always related to business health. Sharpening the sales strategy, optimizations, reducing sales costs and expenses, and increasing deal size have all worked miracles to improve this metric and deliver stellar revenue growth.

2. Customer Acquisition Cost: CAC is a fantastic marketing tool that brings sustainable growth now and in the future by focusing on critical areas and avoiding resource waste. Optimizing the sales and marketing organizations, redesigning sales territories (geographical or vertical/horizontal), and hiring the ‘right cost’ talent (not just lower price talent) have worked wonders.

3. Lifetime Value of Customer: LTV is the accurate measure of estimated total revenue over each account’s lifetime. It has always helped me understand just how sticky the proposition is and assess both competitiveness and value. As you can imagine, LTV also provides a context to how reasonable your CAC is. The three most important factors that have helped me improve this metric and baseline performance include identifying the highest potential markets, the highest possible target accounts, and defining my target buyers.

4. My favorite is a behavioral metric focused on the amount of time spent on selling activities. In other words, how often is my sales team in front of prospects and customers? Supporting the team on what they would benefit from, including sales tools, territory or industry vertical redesign, and marketing, has always provided an impetus to the sales engine, driving revenue growth with consistency.

5. Pipeline to Quota ratio is an excellent leading indicator, measured by dividing the total sales pipeline by the total quota remaining. With CRM maturity, it has become much easier to manage the pipeline, including developing the pipeline management process and developing the forecast management process. Adding marketing levers to these two initiatives has also helped me drive the desired positive results.

You cannot manage what you cannot measure! Metrics are critical for sales, and as sales leaders, our risk of failures is always high. That is precisely why successful sales managers obsessively measure everything about their go-to-market model, sales strategy, and salespeople. 

If you want to talk, my first 15 minutes are always complimentary. Reach me here.